The Sunflower Festival in Thailand starts around November and goes on until about February. The best places to see sunflower fields are in Lopburi Province and Saraburi Province. It was Lopburi where we went last weekend to see the sunflowers. Thousands of people from Bangkok head this way at the weekends for a day trip to take pictures in the sunflower fields. For people in Lopburi it has started to become a major tourist attraction. Each farm takes turns in planting the sunflowers so that there is at least one area of blooming flowers during this period. According to latest statistics, there is now 12,000 acres of sunflower fields in Lopburi alone. As well as being a tourist attraction, they also extract oil from the sunflower seeds and of course make tasty snacks.
Most farmers will charge you about 5 or 10 baht to enter their fields to take pictures. We found others along side roads which were free. The places that charge admission usually also have stalls selling souvenirs and snacks relating to sunflowers. They also offered tractor and cart rides throught the fields and also a few places had elephant rides. Most Thai people just went to the sunflower fields to take pictures. Usually of each other. If you don’t have your own transport, then you could join the special train trip that goes from Hua Lamphong Station in Bangkok to the sunflower fields around Pasak Jolasid Dam. The train goes only at the weekend and on public holidays. It leaves Bangkok at 6.40 a.m. and returns eleven hours later. Prices start from 255 baht and go up to 675 baht for first class.
For more information about Lopburi Province, please visit our www.ThailandGuidebook.com website. We have lots of pictures of our trips to this province and also maps and lists of hotels. Don’t forget to visit our popular forums at www.ThailandGuidebook.com if you need any help in planning your holidays. All festivals are also posted on our www.ThaiFestivalBlogs.com website. All of these sites are part of the internationally acclaimed Paknam Web Network.
